Bernie Sanders Could Do the Impossible:Why Hillary Clinton’s 'Electability' Argument's Falling Apart

[Proserpina]

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-could-do-impossible-why-hillary-clintons-electability-argument-has?akid=13876.227380.SajeCc&rd=1&src=newsletter1048859&t=13

Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign has excited progressives and socialists alike in a way that’s unparalleled in modern American history. So far, however, Hillary Clinton has been able to draw substantial support from people who are sympathetic to Sanders’s views and his record, but believe that Clinton is the most electable candidate in the general election against what is sure to be an ultraconservative goblin. However, as polls over the past couple of months have shown, Sanders is showing signs that he’s every bit as a electable as Clinton — and when matched up against certain Republican candidates, he’s polling even better than she is.

In Sanders’s neighboring state of New Hampshire, he has exploded to a 14 point lead over Clinton in the latest Monmouth University poll. New Hampshire is a complicated state politically, a libertarian-leaning bastion in liberal New England, but Sanders fits the role of a rough, charismatic party outsider that New Hampshirites have a history of supporting, so it’s not such a surprise that Sanders is wooing them this time around. (Sanders, by the way, leads every Republican he was matched up against in New Hampshire by double digits.)

What’s a bit more surprising is the ground Sanders is gaining in Iowa. The latest Quinnipac poll found that Sanders now leads Clinton by 5 percent in the earliest primary state, whose caucus is on February 1. If Sanders is able to beat Clinton there, it’ll give him a decisive victory in the two earliest states in the country (which also happen to be swing states). And don’t underestimate the importance of Iowa: Barack Obama’s victory there in January 2008 solidified him as a serious threat to Clinton.

When put in a hypothetical matchup against the top three Republican candidates in Iowa — Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio — Sanders polls much better than Clinton. He leads Donald Trump by 13 points (to Clinton’s 8), ties Marco Rubio where Clinton loses by 5 points, and in the biggest surprise of all, he leads Ted Cruz by 5 points where Clinton is losing by 4 points. That’s a nine point Democratic swing, and six crucial electoral votes, if the numbers in this polling continue to hold up.

Nationwide, this same trend holds... An optimistic Sanders supporter might even be inclined to think that Sanders is, ironically, the most electable Democratic candidate.

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[PyaarRevolution]

1. Surprised about Rubio.

I would think Sanders would basically clear numbers against him by a few points easily. I have to think most of the Millennials would go for Sanders. I mean Rubio being against reconciliation with Cuba when I'm sure most Hispanic people, absent ex-Cubans, support it. Don't forget the fact that he's FERVENTLY anti-Gay. I would use the term bigot when referring to his attitude on Gay people.